DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention I in the reply filed on 2/19/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/19/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on 10/11/2023 has been acknowledged and considered by the examiner. Initialed copies of supplied IDS(s) forms are included in this correspondence.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki et. al US 20190212556 (hereinafter “Sasaki”) in view of Ma et. al US 20230306920 (hereinafter “Ma”).
Regarding claim 1, Sasaki teaches an off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device comprising:
a diffuser (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – 120, see also para. 0011 and 0068), and configured to increase uniformity of the backlight source (Sasaki para. 0016);
a first curved mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 - 132) for receiving and reflecting the backlight source (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – light path);
a second curved mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 - 133) for receiving and reflecting the backlight source reflected by the first curved mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – light path);
a display module (Sasaki fig. 10-11 - 140) for receiving the backlight source reflected by the second curved mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – light path); and
at least one of the first curved mirror (132) and the second curved mirror (133) is a concave mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 - 133), which is used for magnifying and pulling away the backlight source.
Sasaki does not specifically teach a light emitting array as a conical light cup with a diffuser set on an outgoing light side of the array.
In the same field of endeavor, Ma teaches a light emitting array (Ma fig. 5 - 101) including a plurality of light sources (Ma fig. 5 – 101 in an array), and providing a backlight source;
a conical light cup array including a plurality of conical light cups (Ma fig. 5-8 – 40 including 402, 403, 4031), and set on an incoming light side of the conical light cup array (Ma fig. 11), wherein each of the light sources (101) corresponds to a corresponding one of the conical light cups (Ma fig. 5), and the conical light cup array (40, 402, 403, 4031) is configured to magnify the backlight source to reduce diffusion angle of the backlight source;
a diffuser (Ma fig. 30 - 03) set on an outgoing light side of the conical light cup array (Ma fig. 30 – 03 is disposed opposite to 101) for the purpose of improving display luminance and uniformity (Ma para. 0122). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a light emitting array as a conical light cup with a diffuser set on an outgoing light side of the array as taught by Ma in the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device of Sasaki in order to improve display luminance and uniformity (Ma para. 0122).
Regarding claim 2, Sasaki and Ma teach the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device as claimed in claim 1, and they further teach wherein the conical light cups (40) are hollow light cups coated with a high reflectivity coating (Ma para. 0169 – high reflective coating on the inside of the cups) or transparent solid light cups.
Regarding claim 3, Sasaki and Ma teach the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device as claimed in claim 1, and Sasaki further teaches wherein one of the first and second curved mirrors (132 and 133 respectively) is a concave mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – 133 is concave), and the other is a concave or convex mirror (Sasaki fig. 10-11 – 132 also concave).
Regarding claim 4, Sasaki and Ma teach the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device as claimed in claim 1, and Ma further teaches wherein the conical light cups of the conical light cup array (40) have different inclinations (Ma fig. 16).
Regarding claim 5, Sasaki and Ma teach the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device as claimed in claim 1, and Ma further teaches wherein the diffuser (03) is a curved sheet member or a planar sheet member (Ma fig. 30 – 03 is a diffuser plate, see also para. 0226).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki and Ma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hasei et. al US 20060291065 (hereinafter “Hasei”).
Regarding claim 6, Sasaki and Ma teach the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a convex lens array (Sasaki fig. 17-19 – W2), the diffuser (03) is a planar sheet member (Ma para. 0226 – a plate), the convex lens array (W2) includes a plurality of convex lenses (Ma fig. 18-19, see also para. 0181).
Sasaki and Ma do not specifically place the convex lens array W2 onto the diffuser plate 03, however Ma does disclose that the disclosed embodiments may be modified or improved without departing from the scope of the invention (Ma para. 0260).
In the same field of endeavor, Hasei teaches a convex lens array (Hasei fig. 2 – 9), the diffuser (Hasei fig. 2 - 7) is a planar sheet member (Hasei fig. 2), the convex lens array (9) includes a plurality of convex lenses (Hasei fig. 2), the convex lens array (9) is arranged on an outgoing light side of the diffuser (Hasei fig. 2 – 9 is on the outgoing light side of 7), so that the diffuser (7) is located between the convex lens array (9) and the conical light cup array (Hasei fig. 2 – 7 is between 9 and light cups 5 and 6) for the purpose of controlling the intensity distribution of light transmitted through the light diffusing plate (Hasei para. 0066). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a convex lens array on the outgoing light side of the diffuser as taught by Hasei in the off-axis dual mirror focusing backlight display device of Sasaki and Ma in order to control the intensity distribution of light transmitted through the light diffusing plate (Hasei para. 0066.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sasaki et. al US Patent 11,378,800, patent of Sasaki et. al US 20190212556;
Ma et. al US patent 12,027,128, patent of Ma et. al US 20230306920;
Saisho et. al US 20130063754, discloses a similar mirror arrangement to the instant application;
Fujiyama et. al US Patent 5,754,344, discloses a backlight arrangement with a convex lens array;
Tordini WO 2011125010, teaches a similar backlight array to the instant application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH M HALL whose telephone number is (703)756-5795. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5:30 pm PST.
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/ELIZABETH M HALL/Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/ZACHARY W WILKES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872